With all the leaves gone and the branches trimmed, the mulberry tree on school grounds is looking very bare right now but it should delight us with many buds and its full greenery soon enough. What beautiful weather we had the last few weeks of January, a stark contrast from the earlier weeks with chilly and rainy weather.
The daikon radishes are responding to the children’s “Get Big!” calls and are starting to show its white tops. The camellias by the parking lot are full of buds and should be quite a sight when in bloom.

- Familiarize oneself with “Setsubun” through making /wearing “Oni” masks and listening to stories about the origins of “Setsubun”
- Enjoy “Oni Asobi” and play to traditional children’s songs
- Younger Group – Use “Jump rope Chart” and practice jump roping
- Older Group - Attempt different activities and make an effort to achieve goals on the “Gambari (Effort) Chart” such as jump roping, climbing, one leg jumping, tying a knot, using chopsticks, knitting, bunbun tops, monkey bar, etc.
- Become familiar and enjoy HInamatsuri through creating Hina dolls
- Proactively practice good hygiene habits for the winter (ie washing hands, gargling)

Date : February 27 (Sun)
Time: 1:30~2:00 and 2:30~3:00 (Twice)
Place : Huntington Library’s Japanese Garden
Sakura Class students will be performing a musical play at the above mentioned times. Please come and join us with family and friends.

Sakura students have taken up finger knitting during free play time and they are hooked. They are so happy and proud of their lengthy creations. The technique is simple and yet it requires diligence and it is a great way to exercise one’s fingers as well. Because it stimulates the brain and helps to develop dexterity, finger knitting has become popular a few years ago amongst the elderly in Japan as a way to prevent memory loss. If anyone is interested in learning how to finger knit, please let us know. We’d love to show you how or perhaps the children in Sakura Class can teach you???

We will be holding parent/teacher conferences. We hope that the P/T conference will provide an opportunity to better acquaint ourselves with each other and reach better understanding of each other’s expectations at KNI. We think this will provide a foundation for the growth and development of your child/children. If you have not done so already, please be sure to make an appointment.

Ms. Inoue joined KNI team this month. She will be assisting the teachers and provide an additional set of eyes for the children.
From Ms. Inoue:
I am happy to be able to join the KNI family starting this month.
I come to work looking forward to seeing your children’s face and their daily development of your children. I appreciate your support.

- Maintenance committee(Eli Williams’ daddy, Namika Conness’ daddy, Jimmy Osorio’s daddy and Sakura Leongson’s mommy-coordinator)
Many thanks to the above daddies for performing the following maintenance work;
Repairing the side bars of the steps on Yagura (the big play gym in the yard)
Covering up the corners of the sandbox for safety
Repairing the hanging ladder on Yagura
Repairing telephone
In addition to the above tasks, they are currently working on creating a new message board/stand.

- Removal and installation of refrigerator(Hana Nakamura’s mommy, Ken BrayAli’s daddy, and Kodi Pfeiffer’ daddy)
Our old fridge broke down so we sent out a request for a new one. Ms. Nakamura offered the fridge immediately and the two daddies provided the help to swap the fridges the very next day. We deeply appreciate the speedy response to our needs.

- Mochi–tsuki (rice cake pounding) event
This year’s annual Mochi-tsuki event was the largest ever. Many thanks to the Mochi-tsuki committee for all their tireless work on preparation, the execution of the event, and post-event clean up. We would also like to thank Taiga Young’s mommy for arranging the drum performance for the event. It was a wonderful performance.

- Christmas DVD completion(Parents of Noa Sherman)
The volunteer staff from Bang Zoom! Entertainment made many visits to KNI for the recording of pre-Christmas activities, and of course, on the day of Christmas party. Their attention to detail was obvious at the party. The DVD will be available in the near future, and we are looking forward to viewing it soon.

- Papas and Mamas Newspaper(Masaki Olgin’s Mommy, Hajime Kimura’ s Mommy, and mother of a KNI Alumni)
Thank you very much for all your work.